Even with avid CD collectors 19th Century music
by Belgium composers is little known. Once one strips away
the Belgian school of violinist/composers (Ysaye, de Bériot,
and Vieuxtemps) and the honorary Frenchman Cesar Franck most
people would struggle to name many others. But it should come
as no surprise that there was an active group of composers
centred on the Music Conservatory in Antwerp. The key to this
lack of knowledge is that for many years the founding father
of this musical/aesthetic dynasty - Peter Benoit (1834-1901)
focused on producing a body of choral and vocal work. Not only
did this significantly hamper the development of a Flemish
symphonic tradition but at the same time the use of Flemish
in these choral works would severely limit their international
dissemination. It was not until the final years of the century
that some composers sought to redress that balance. Lodewijk
Mortelmans was one of that group and the main work here - the Homerische
Symfonie - is his most significant piece of purely symphonic
music. The two other pieces that comprise the disc neatly frame
the symphony (a shame therefore that the disc was not compiled
in compositional order perhaps?) with the Mythe der Lente predating
the Symphony by some three years and, remarkably, the Morgenstimmung, althoughwritten
twenty-four years afterwards, is Mortelmans’ next orchestral
work.

The Symphony is a big and serious work. Timing at only a minute
or so shy of three-quarters of an hour it would test the powers
of any composer to sustain his musical argument over that kind
of span. Each movement is given a title but to be honest I
found them to be less than revealing - indeed the liner-notes
point out that Mortelmans himself had an ambivalent attitude
towards programme music. He tried to explain the symphony’s “meaning” as
being his own musical response to having read the Iliad and
the Odyssey. The result is a standard four movement
work that is at heart conservative for the date at which it
was written. The orchestra used sounds as though it is the
standard “Brahmsian” orchestra and throughout there
is little if any aural excess. Indeed there is a solidity to
much of the writing that rarely implies the work of a still
young composer not yet thirty. The writer of the liner-notes
makes a comparison with early Sibelius and whilst I know what
he means there is none of the earthy vigour of the Finn’s Kullervo.
The comparison is valid given that Sibelius was 27 when his
work was premiered to Mortelmans 30. The problem mainly lies
in that Sibelius’ genius allowed him to forge an utterly
individual symphonic voice out of a melange of Romantic musical
influences. Mortelmans is not such a genius so we have formally
a Brahmsian symphony with some Wagnerian musical gestures overlaid.
But it would be quite wrong to imply that this is not an enjoyable
piece because it is. Simply, after several careful listenings
I find myself struggling to recall any truly memorable melodies
or musical gestures. The heart of the work, and the part which
contains the best music is the 2nd (slow) movement 'Memories
of Patroklos's death'. This is a funeral march and
I like the sombre dragging atmosphere Mortelmans creates. I
suspect that this is because the mood here is more in tune
with Mortelmans’ own temperament. This suspicion is reinforced
by the 3rd movement (scherzo) ‘Sirens
playing and singing'. As the liner-notes point
out (I do like the fact that the author of these notes is less
gushing and enthused than these people often are - he is positively
sceptical at points!) it is hard to equate this well-behaved
music with characters both seductive and murderous. At nearly
twelve minutes long this movement outstays its welcome. The
finale 'The
genius of Hellas' is worked out with rigour
but is again ultimately unmemorable. The final peroration has
a heroic hymn-like quality but that is swept away by a somewhat
perfunctory ending.

I would guess that most collectors, if they knew any of Mortelmans’ music
previously, would have heard it from the same sources as me,
namely three discs from Marco Polo surveying Romantic Flemish
music and two from the now defunct Discover label covering
similar material. Both of the couplings here were available
on those discs. The Mythe der Lente was coupled with
symphonies by Jef Van Hoof and Arthur Meulemans and a suite
by Peter Benoit (Marco Polo 8.225100). The Morgenstemming
'Morning Mood' was on another Marco Polo disc
(8.223418) this time coupled with another Meulemans
symphony and various other excellent pieces. My memory of those
discs - which I have confirmed by returning to them as part
of this review - was that the Mortelmans works were amongst
the least interesting. That being said both works are superior
to the symphony in successfully fulfilling a smaller scale
remit. It does bear in on one though that Mortelmans was an
arch conservative - the 1922 Morgenstemming being
as untouched by the ravages of the previous decade as any piece
I have ever heard. It is actually beautifully lyrical and benefits
in its own terms from a melodic simplicity that is very charming.Mythe
der Lente has a more skittish character although Spring
as represented here is lyrical and beneficent - more Glazunov
in The Seasons mood rather than Frank Bridge’s
majestic Enter Spring.

Production values are all that we have come to expect from
Hyperion. Perhaps the recording is fractionally more resonant
than usual from this source but this does allow the brass in
particular to bloom to good effect. The Royal Flemish Philharmonic
is a good orchestra without being exceptional, the playing
always neat and tidy without having any moments of ear catching
brilliance. Much the same can be said of Martyn Brabbins conducting,
never less than competent but at the same time unable to lift
this music out of the mundane - ultimately solid but uninspired
music making. If your collection already contains the Marco
Polo discs already mentioned the performances here are their
equals without supplanting them. As this was an opportunity
to showcase both the orchestra and the music of its native
land I do wonder why this composer and programme was chosen.
Without a shadow of a doubt Belgium produced finer romantic
orchestral works around the turn of the 19th century.

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